[talk] Does swap still matter?

[Okan Demirmen]

On Wed 2022.03.16 at 11:03 -0400, George Rosamond wrote:
> This has been an on and off debate I've had with myself and others, and
> wanted some input from others. Input from live experiences is great, input
> from low-level devs is even better.
> 
> When RAM never seemed adequate for a system in the past, the utility of swap
> was obvious. You would see the spikes on top(1) when swap was hit.
> 
> swap = 2 x RAM, blah blah.
> 
> Today, when those 64G or more of RAM are the norm for bare-metal boxes, and
> it's overkill in many contexts, is swap still necessary?
> 
> Do certain applications/OS functions still use swap as opposed to RAM for
> some reason? I mean, swap is normally encrypted by default, so there is a
> justifiable reason to use swap over RAM.
> 
> I know encrypted RAM is a (small) part of the universe today, including with
> the Ryzen pro series.
> 
> Looking forward to being enlightened.

you don't like hibernate?